Fernando Pessoa
Poet, Writer
"Life is full of paradoxes, as roses are of thorns."
Thorns quotes
Thorns
77 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Rumi
Poet, Philosopher
"The rose's rarest essence lives in the thorns."
Stephen King
Author
"It’s hard to let go. Even when what you’re holding onto is full of thorns, it’s hard to let go. Maybe especially then."
Lee Child
Author
"Don't be sad that roses have thorns. Be glad that thorns have Roses. Today's the day I worried about yesterday and it didn't happen."
Benjamin Franklin
Inventor, Statesman, Author
"He that scatters thorns, let him not go barefoot."
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside thorns — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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Thorns quotes (page 1 of 4)
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"To wander in the fields of flowers, pull the thorns from your heart."
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"Cursed be the ground for our sake. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for us. For out of the ground we were taken, for the dust we are and to the dust we shall return."
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"God put thorns around the Love's door to stop anyone who's not a Lover from entering."
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"Untilled ground, however rich, will bring forth thistles and thorns; so also the mind of man."
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"Roses grow on thorns and honey wears a sting."
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"Water the fruit trees and don’t water the thorns."
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"A crown of roses is also a crown of thorns."
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"Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits and flowers, but beyond them I saw troubles and thorns innumerable."
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"I will soothe you and heal you, I will bring you roses. I too have been covered with thorns."
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"By what sort of experience are we led to the conviction that spirit exists? On the whole, by searching, painful experience. The rose Religion grows on a thorn-bush, and we must not be afraid to have our fingers lacerated by the thorns if we would pluck the rose."
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"Every man has his thorns, not of him, but in him, deep as bones."
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"Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to cultivate one's garden."
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"Free from passion and desire, you have stripped the thorns from the stem."
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"Remember, Monsieur that roses are not gathered except in the midst of thorns and that heroic acts of virtue are accomplished only in weakness."
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"I can alter my life by altering my attitude. He who would have nothing to do with thorns must never attempt to gather flowers."
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"I have seen one shrike occupy himself for hours in sticking up on thorns, a number of small fishes that the fishermen had thrown on the shore. The fishes dried up and decayed."
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"He that sows Thorns, should never go barefoot."
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"Look at this tangle of thorns."
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"This is not the way these tales end," Calliope said firmly. "This is not the way that things end when they get to be tales," Amatus said, "but since ours is not yet told, we cannot count on it. There were a hundred dead princes on the thorns outside Sleeping Beauty's castle, and I'm sure many of them were splendid fellows."
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"I will no longer wound myself with the thoughts and questions that have surrounded me like thorns: that is a penance You do not ask of me."
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